This morning, we woke up at about 6AM while it was raining. We quickly packed up our wet tents and sleeping bags, and drove to the Safeway/Starbucks in Port Angeles.
After enjoying a coffee and breakfast, we drove to Storm King Ranger Station which also serves as the trailhead of the Marymere Falls Trail. The Marymere Falls Trail is a 1.5 mile (total) out-and-back trail, the midpoint of which is a beautiful waterfall. The first (and last) .5 mile of the trail is relatively flat, with the next 1/8th of the mile steeply ascending up to the waterfall.
After ending our hike at the ranger station, we spent a few minutes tracing the previous day’s hike on a full-wall 3D rendering of Olympic National Park at the Visitors Center. At this point, it was about 10:45, and we decided to rush over to Port Angeles and try boarding the 12:45 ferry to Victoria, rather than the 5PM ferry we were originally planning on. Our cars were #19 and #20 in the standby line because we didn’t have reservations. We were extremely lucky and our cars ended up being the 2nd-to-last and 3rd-to-last cars on the ferry.
We arrived in Victoria at around 2:30PM, and Michel dropped me off near Thetis Lake so that I could try hitchhiking to Goldstream Provincial Park. After about 30 minutes of unsuccessful hitchhiking at the entrance of highway, I just watched back to Six Mile Pub and boarded the 50 bus to Downtown. Once there, I texted the AirBNB hosts for that night (Ed and Karen), who cooperated in letting me check in at 7PM rather than 9PM as originally planned.
Ed and Karen are empty nesters and world travelers. They have a very cozy home, with walls containing sentimental artwork and photographs from their travels. They have spent a lot of time in Thailand, and most of their artwork and photographs seem to be from that country. They are using AirBNB as a way to make some extra money, but also to meet travelers and to feel a bit like they are traveling themselves.
At around 8:30PM, Ed invited me downstairs to meet their other AirBNB guest, Vaughan. Vaughan works in the Tech industry, has two kids (aged seven and two) and is in the process of moving his family over from Vancouver to Victoria. He recently acquired a home in Victoria for $501,000 The final move date is scheduled for August 31st, just a few days before his children start school. The reason for his move is that he grew up in a small town, and believes that it’s best for his children to grow up in a smaller town than Vancouver (Vancouver has a population of 3.5 million Vs. Victoria having a population of 350,000). He also believes that in addition to the size, Victoria’s location on an island, greatly affects the way of life and feeling in the city. Ed, Vaughan and I got involved in an hour-long, interesting conversation about the differences between Victoria and Vancouver, the sharing economy (Uber, AirBnB), and traveling. The conversation was definitely one of the highlights of the day.
Michel’s Additional Photos from the Olympic NP Trip:
